The Japanese dancer conquering Spain's flamenco scene Japan's Junko Hagiwara has caused a stir in Spain's traditional flamenco world by unexpectedly winning the prize for best dancer at the country's leading flamenco festival -- the first foreigner to do so.

Castanets will click on September weekends at several Santa Fe restaurants, a testament to flamenco's popularity in Northern New Mexico. It's easy to assume the distinctive Spanish dance style was introduced here during Spain's colonization hundreds of years ago.

Japanese dancer Junko Hagiwara was booed on stage after becoming the first foreigner to win one of Spain’s most prestigious flamenco competitions at the Cante de las Minas festival in the town of La Union in Murcia in early August.